Inheritance
by lloydskywalkers
Summary: Destiny's never been particularly kind to their family. Wu ought to know that by now. (Or, two conversations Wu has with what's left of his family.)


**I'm gonna post all these Angst Week oneshots eventually! Here's some FSM family angst, because that's all I know how to write apparently :'D**

* * *

"Wu."

"Psst, Wu."

"I know you can hear me, Wu."

Wu stifles the urge to open his eyes and glare at his brother. Instead, he takes a deep breath, letting it out through his nose like father taught him. He's supposed to be meditating right now, not murdering his brother.

Garmadon pokes his side again, and Wu jumps.

"Stop it," he hisses, glaring at Garmadon. "We're supposed to be _focusing_."

"On what, how boring this is?"

Wu tries not to roll his eyes. Mature, he reminds himself. Be the mature one.

"Come on, Wu," Garmadon says, nudging him with his elbow. "Don't you wanna get out of here?"

Wu looks down, hesitant. "Father wouldn't approve."

Garmadon rolls his eyes. "Who cares what father approves or doesn't approve," he says, in that blisteringly confident way he has. "All he's done the last few days is sit around and talk to boring people anyways. He won't even notice we're gone."

"But he said we should finish our meditation," Wu says, trying in vain to keep his hands in position.

Garmadon scoots closer to him, grinning. "Well, father also says 'never put off until tomorrow what you can do today', right? And those caves aren't gonna explore themselves."

Wu sighs. "I don't know, Garmadon." He bites his lip. "The - the last time we followed that one, it didn't really end…well."

Garmadon leans back, an unreadable look on his face. Wu squeezes his eyes shut, the familiar rush of guilt and fear flooding him. Ever the reminder that it's his fault.

"That's Oni shi-"

"Don't curse," Wu says, almost automatically.

Garmadon rolls his eyes. "Whatever, it still is," he huffs. "The whole Oni and Dragon blood thing, the venom."

Wu looks down, his crossed legs starting to go numb.

"Wu, you don't actually think I'd - I'd hurt you, right?" Garmadon's voice isn't playful anymore. There's a touch of fear there, a note of hurt.

Wu shakes his head. "No, of course not," he says, giving his brother a weak smile. "I'm just…I'm just worried, you know? Father is so quiet lately."

"Father's _always_ quiet," Garmadon reminds him. "And then he's all cryptic and confusing when he does talk."

"He's being wise, Garmadon."

"Psh."

Garmadon glances at him again, concern written across his face. "Brother, I can hear you thinking. Stop worrying so much about it."

Wu's fists clench. "It's my fault," he whispers, eyes scrunching up. "If I had just - if I hadn't lost the sword-"

"Oh, stop that," Garmadon says. He grabs Wu's shoulders firmly, forcing him to to face him. "You can't keep blaming yourself for something the snake did, alright? Besides," he says, ruefully. "I should have seen it."

"What if's and should have's can be the downfall of a man," Wu says, sniffing.

Garmadon casts his eyes skyward. " _Must_ you bring father into everything?"

Wu shrugs, and Garmadon gives a huff of laughter. He scoots up next to Wu, bumping his shoulder again.

"Listen, no snake is going to come between me and my family," Garmadon says, stubbornly. "I hate snakes. Do you know how disgraceful that would be?"

Wu giggles in spite of himself. "Well, you've never been one to avoid a fight."

"That is…a fair point," Garmadon admits.

"Maybe you're just destined to fight everything that comes your way."

"I hate destiny," Garmadon mutters, leaning back and bracing himself on his arms.

"Don't offend higher powers like that, Garmadon."

Garmadon rolls his eyes. "You're no fun."

"I'm fun!"

"Yeah, when you're not being _boring_."

"Fine," Wu snaps, standing up abruptly. He wobbles a bit as feeling floods back into his legs. "If I beat you to the caves, you have to clean our whole room yourself, though."

"Deal," Garmadon says, grinning. "You'll never win, anyways."

"Your confidence is ever your downfa- hey! That's cheating!"

Wu sprints after Garmadon as he cackles, flying down the monastery steps. Snake bite or not, his brother always plays dirty-

"-cle Wu?"

Wu blinks, the hazy smoke of incense pulling him back to the present.

"Uncle Wu?"

Lloyd sits before him, crossed-legged in his quarters on the _Bounty_ , looking at him in concern. "Are you alright? You kinda spaced out there, a bit."

Wu shakes his head, clearing the sting of the memories away. "I am alright, Lloyd," he says, slowly. "I apologize for drifting."

"Oh, that's fine," Lloyd says, brightly. "Do you want to take a break? I'm pretty tired, too."

Wu gives him a look. "You know we need to stay focused, Lloyd. Every day we have must be spent preparing you for the final battle."

"I know, I know," Lloyd ducks his head. "It'd just be nice to slow down once in a while," he mutters, his chin propped up in his hands.

Wu gives him a pitying look. "Your destiny does not allow for much pause, I'm afraid."

Lloyd looks down. "I hate destiny," he sighs.

Wu's eyes flick skywards briefly. "Do not offend higher powers, Gar-"

He cuts off violently, biting his tongue against the sudden swoop of horror.

Lloyd blinks at him, confused. "Huh?"

Wu shakes his head, motioning at Lloyd to speak. "Nothing. Tell me how your training with the other ninja is going."

Lloyd brightens at that, sufficiently distracted as he launches into descriptions of his students' lessons.

Wu tears his mind from the past, trying to focus on Lloyd's voice. He focuses on Misako's easy grace, the gentle way Lloyd handles the teacup, the reverent way he listens to stories of their ancestors, the traces of her he can see in Lloyd.

It's easier to think of him that way - as Misako's son.

"-they want to head out and patrol the villages tomorrow, though, so we'll probably be focusing more on that," Lloyd continues, oblivious to Wu's inner turmoil. "But they're doing really well, Uncle Wu. I'm learning a lot."

"That's good to hear," Wu says, with a flicker of pride for his hand-picked students. "Though I advise you not to focus so much on Kai's training alone," he narrows his eyes. "It would be unfortunate if the greatest lesson the Green Ninja took away was how to blow up the stove yet again."

"Hey, that was Kai's fault, not mine."

Lloyd's mouth quirks up in a half-grin that's so startlingly familiar, Wu feels as if the air's punched right out of him.

For a second, it's not his nephew sitting in front of him, but his brother.

His brother, who his nephew is fated to destroy.

The teacup slips from Wu's hands, shattering to the floor.

Lloyd starts at the sound, the smile sliding from his face like water. "Uncle Wu?" he says, concerned. "Are - are you alright?"

Wu passes a hand across his eyes, trying to banish the image in his mind as he fails to fight the agonizing pain constricting his chest. Trying to keep what's left of his heart from breaking to pieces.

He must. He _must_ train Lloyd to defeat the darkness. Even if that means he's training him to fight his brother. Even if that means he's ensuring his brother's defeat.

Even if that means he's condemning his brother to death.

His _brother_ -

For a minute, it's too much.

"Lloyd," he manages, forcing some semblance of calm into his voice. "Leave me, please. We will resume our training later."

Lloyd flinches back. "Did - did I do something wrong?"

No, but how is Wu to explain that he couldn't help being born with such a destiny?

"Please, Lloyd."

Hurt flashes in Lloyd's eyes, and he pushes himself to his feet, rattling the teacup as he does. He doesn't look at Wu, fleeing from the room like a shadow.

Wu drops his head into his head, guilt overtaking him. It's not Lloyd's fault he looks so much like his father.

It's not Lloyd's fault he's going to have to kill Garmadon.

No, that one is on Wu.

Training his own son to kill him. Wu almost laughs.

Instead, what's left of Wu's heart breaks. It's funny, that this many years later, he's still able to fail Garmadon in such an unforgivable way.


End file.
